Women Starting Up in Startups
The only story I can tell about women in tech is my own. When presented with a job offer from a startup, I was working a corporate job that was slowly killing my soul. Choosing the tech startup was a no-brainer for me because I couldn’t envision myself continuing on with the corporation. As soon as I started at the startup, I was thrust out of my comfort zone and presented many challenges. I was, quite simply put, in love with the startup lifestyle.
Working for a startup is most definitely not for everyone. People who need lots of schedule, process and micro-management are probably not ideal candidates. I was fortunate because I wasn’t supporting a family on my income and was free to take a risk with my career. According to Penelope Trunk, a successful entrepreneur and blogger, the reason you don’t see more women in startups is that the time spent away from kids doing a startup is not equal to the money that you’re paid. I don’t have kids, so I can’t speak to that point but in my experience, the women who work for startups AND have children also have very supportive spouses.
Does talking about the issue of women in tech actually accomplish anything for our cause? Besides raising awareness of our small numbers, I agree with Jenni Lees in that talking doesn’t equal action. We have to do something about it. This is why I seek out mentors, support other women in my local community and make it a priority to encourage all young women to think about technical careers. While we may be a minority (for the time being), we are an important one and the skills women bring to the table can help startups succeed.
A co-worker and I were recently interviewed for a local online business publication about this very topic. What I realized during the course of the interview is that I’ve never felt weird or out of place as a woman working at a tech startup. The issue of gender doesn’t come up in our office and in fact, I try to use it to my advantage. There are less people using our bathroom and I get lots of invites to talk about Lijit because I’m a woman. In terms of marketing for my company, being a woman has done nothing but help. If there is an old boy’s network, I have no problem making my voice heard and exchanging firm handshakes with anyone.
A friend mentioned that she had a hard time, at first, considering herself a “woman in tech” because she does marketing and PR for her tech startup. Mind you, she’s also a co-founder of that company, but regardless of that fact, I could totally relate to what she was saying. Often, the other women I meet at tech events are on the front-facing side of things and struggle with the same issue. But with more and more women interacting online and making our presence known, why should we not consider ourselves technical women?
I don’t think there is anything particularly masculine or manly about geeking out over computers. I know good female programmers, engineers, designers, bloggers, inventors, leaders, etc- and they seem to be welcome at technology events, jobs, etc. I don’t see gender as being an issue for anyone I work with, or in how much respect someone gets for doing their work.
I can say, as a woman with a family (two boys ages 4 & 6!) and a full-time job PLUS a startup, yes, it’s very difficult to find the time to do it all. Finding the right balance between emerging myself in the evenings in my startup instead of playing with the kids is the hardest. Fortunately, because of their ages, they go to bed early and I can get a few hours in.
Having an incredibly supportive spouse is a HUGE help though – and yes, my hubby is also interested in startups so it makes it even better (and him more supportive than most). We’re doing it all together, so it’s all good.
Just read another blog about the Winner of “Eve Woman Entrepreneur of the Year”-Eva Muraya, She set up her own business Kenya’s capital Nairobi and comments”’“Wealth can easily be created by entreprenuerships”.
Also, the recent movie named the YES Movie, made by founder of Young Entrepreneur Society, it is about young entrepreneurs who take every chance and become successful. Watch the YES movie at http://www.TheYesmovie.com
Keep the hard work everyone!
Awesome post Tara! I know what you mean about the PR/Marketing side of the start-up. I’ve worked for 3, and the only other women I’ve met were either in marketing or customer service. There were a few software developers, but they were usually from another country! Yes, having a supportive partner is a HUGE help. Yes, you work a lot of hours, but they are usually flexible (just as long as you work most of them in any given day). There were times when I was 7 months pregnant and on a conference call at 2 a.m. that I wondered “What the hell am I doing here?” but I find you either are addicted to the start-up culture, or you hate it. I’m an addict. You get to try new and innovative things every day and being a part of making something bigger than yourself can be very rewarding when the company starts to succeed.